The Third Battle of Minus Ithil
The Third Battle of Minus Ithil was an important battle fought between Gondor, Lucerne, and the Sindar Elves of High Forest, against a large force of Mordor Orcs. This would be the first battle of the young Prince Andrew Lovie's life and would symbolize the first and one of the most important moments of the The Journey. The forces of the Alliance were centered around the three major kingdoms in High Forest, Gondor, and Lucerne. Lucerne brought a large force but it was only half the force that would eventually take part in the liberation of Tree Hill, but was especially elite and heavily cavalry based. The forces of High Forest were distinctly archery units, and a large number of Ents of which the archers were perhaps the most deadly part of the entire force accounting for huge casualties amongst the titely packed Orc forces. The forces of Gondor present were basically the entire land based reaction force capable of being moved by the forces of Gondor, and this meant that a defeat would have heralded nearly a certain defeat for the Kingdom of Gondor. The Battle went exactly as the plans had called for with the Orcs foolishly charging blindly into the Gondor forces, which allowed them to be destroyed by ambushing forces of the Lucernians, and High Forest. The casualties were extreme amongst the Orcs with none of the orginal 100,000 strong Orc army surviving, and the siege of Minus Ithil completely lifted. The victory achieved in this battle would allow for the three forces, to continue their plans and would eventually lead to the Second Battle of Tree Hill, and the now current strong alliance between the three once distant Kingdoms. Background Orcs Gondor Kingdom of Lucerne High Forest Prelude With Aragorn`s success in gathering the forces of the S''indar Elves of High Forest he would send word to William Lovie III. of whom had succeed in gaining his father`s permission to lead the forces of Lucerne into Gondor and drive away the Mordor Orcs so that they could then relieve Tree Hill. In terms of the Sindar Elves of High Forest they would travel by boat from High Forest to Osgiliath where they would land north of the port city and meet with the overall forces in the area just north of the Battle site itself. The Orcs for there part had recently sent a smaller force through through the Morgul Pass of which had been moving southward towards the fortress of Narvine of which they would as usual most likely raid the already barren farmland north of Narvine and then retreat when they were opposed. William Lovie III. would lead the Lucernian army alongside his main commanders in Lucerne in the form of Charlie Swan, Renault Scarlet, Jack Shepard alongside many others of whom the main ones they would be meeting east of Stormwind in the Rhunian province. Eddard Starke led the eastern forces alongside the Lannisters of whom were behind the attack surprisingly even before the acceptance of Bill Lovie and these two massive forces would send most of their forces to Lamedon but the leadership remained at Stormwind where it would meet the main army as it came through. The western forces of Lucerne led by the Greymane would lead their forces as well eastward with their army being the furthest behind but using ships from Highgarden, and Fogtown the armies were moved eastward towards Lamedon. The Gondor forces would begin to marshal under the command of Aragorn Elessar III. and while the vast majority traveled to Osgiliath to prepare a smaller force traveled to Lamedon where they would meet William Lovie III. once his army had gathered and was preparing to cross into Gondor. Aragorn Elessar II. would watch with silent fright as the nearly sixty thousand Lucernian troops would mass themselves on the west side of Lamdeon, and it was only upon the arrival of the flags of House Lovie signalling the arrival of William Lovie III. that Aragorn crossed the bridges of Lamedon and met with the Lucernian leadership. William Lovie III. would be awaiting him alongside nearly his entire leadership of whom had arrayed themselves as much as possible inside a massive tent that had been brought for this very occasion, but knowing the importance of this conversation noone outside of William was to speak and it was in this way that Aragorn entered the tent of the Lucernian King and the two would speak one last time before going to war. The Battle The Doomed Charge : ''"I was shocked that they didn't even check their flanks. I was shocked because all I knew of Orcs was that they wiped us out at Leon, and at Tree Hill. Were those Orcs somehow more intelligent then the idiots we met on those fields?" : -William Lovie III. With the forces in place the armies of Gondor, Lucerne, and High Forest moved into their positions. At this point as the Gondorians moved into the open of the field the Orcs noticed them quickly, and did exactly what was believed they would do. The Orc commander Urgreek Madd ordered his forces to charge the Gondor soilders and in this way the entire Mordor army except the few thousand archers that moved in behind the chargind Orcs. The Orcs were now moving away from their position outside Minus Ithil, and towards the Gondorians, which meant the plan was going perfectly. The Gondor archers opened up on the orcs but the numbers were immense, and the Orcs kept coming and coming. When the orcs finally reached the lines, the Gondor soilders used delaying tactics and simply held the Orcs in place. With the orcs engaged the Lucernians and Sindar launched their attacks. The Ambush : "After they charged it was a simple ticking of the clock before we massacred them. Though they didn't know it yet the Orcs were dead the moment they entered that field without looking." : -Jamie Lannister With the Orcs embroiled in combat with the Gondorians they were completely focused in front of them and missed the Lucerne cavalry as it left the forest, and they definetly missed the High Forest trees as they charged out as well. The first signs the Orcs had that things were changing was when the cries of battle appeared behind their lines, and the Lucernian cavalry along with the Trees of High Forest slammed into their rear, while acurate archery fell into the core of the Orcs. Death of Ugreek Madd : "I was pulling my sword out of the last Orc to fall to my blade when I felt the air around me calm, and then the subsequent slash towards my head had me flying backwards to avoid it. When I turned around I saw what could have been an Orc, or could have been a giant staring at me." : -Aragorn Elessar II. As the Orcs realized they had become caught in a trap Ugreek Madd looked along the battle line for the commander of the opposing force hoping to end his enemy and route the army in one fell swoop. Ugreek would see Aragorn Elessar the king of Gondor slashing and killing all along the line, and would smile before making his way towards the King. The two would come face to face, and despite Aragorn's superior skill he was pushed back and fell to the ground seemingly defeated. As the men around him watched their King seemingly defeated the entire battle line just stopped, as the men and Orcs watched the titanic fight between these two amazing fighters. : "Like every Orc in history his downfall was his arrogance, and stupidity. Had he of kept the advantage up instead of laughing and hollaring he would have killed the King of Gondor and most likely routed the entire force in one fell swoop." : -Aragorn Elessar II. But as Ugreek reached him and raised his mace, Aragorn suddenly lunged up and stabbed the Orc through the chest before swiping across and nearly cleaving him in two. Ugreek coughed out blood before falling backwards dead. Aragorn looked around at his men who seemed to be still shaken, and without another second thought he screamed out a battle cry and flew back into the Orc lines followed by the rest of his force behind him. The Orcs for their part were now broken as a force, and all along the line begin to realize they were defeated. Massacre With the Orcs realizing they were surrounded and Aragorn having killed the Orcs leader the nature of Orcs led them to a full scale retreat. The defeat was hopeless as they were utterly surrounded, and as they ran they were cut down in their thousands by the vengeful attackers, and those that managed to break the line were taken down by the acurate fire of the Sindar Elven archers. Aftermath Nearly 39,000 Orcs were destroyed in the battle with the loss of just a few hundred in the Gondor Army meaning the battle was far more then just a victory. The Battle cemented the alliance between the three nations and in this way led to the continuation of the Journey which would not lead the alliance towards the Lucernian city of Tree Hill where they would lead their army in the liberating battle of the Second Battle of Tree Hill. Noteable Deaths *Ludor Perdent II. *Kren Perdent *Tobias Perdent *Holgar Perdent Category:Battles Category:The Journey Category:History of Lucerne Category:History of High Forest Category:History of Gondor